Last chance: Muslims sue FBI over post-9/11 spying
The US Supreme Court is set to hear a case about Muslims who say they were illegally spied on by the FBI following 9/11. It was previously thrown out by the lower court over revealing state secrets.
On Monday, a group of Muslim men from Southern California, represented by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and others, will see their class-action lawsuit reach the US Supreme Court. The plaintiffs claim religious discrimination and violations of their rights, stating they were spied upon purely because of their faith.
Their claims were dismissed by a lower court after the government said that allowing the case to go forward could mean revealing “state secrets,” notably who was being investigated and why. However, the decision was reversed by an appeals court, which said the lower court must first examine the evidence the government claimed was a “state secret.”
The case concerns an FBI informant, Craig Monteilh, who in 2006-2007 infiltrated a Muslim community in Southern California as part of a surveillance program known as Operation Flex.
Also on rt.com Ashley Biden diary appears to be real as FBI raids Project Veritas-linked homes over its ‘theft’Monteilh pretended to be a fitness consultant who had recently converted to Islam, frequently attending the Islamic Center of Irvine in Orange County. The informant secretly recorded thousands of hours of conversation and interactions using a camera concealed in a shirt button, while collecting hundreds of names and numbers.
Monteilh was eventually told to broach the topic of jihad – often interpreted as meaning holy war – and expressed a willingness to undertake violent acts. Concerned by his revelation, members of the community reported him to the FBI. The secret service has acknowledged that Monteilh was an informant.
The story of Monteilh, who was known to those in Orange County as Farouk al-Aziz, was publicized in the US media, and featured on the National Public Radio show ‘This American Life’ in 2012.
This will be the second time in as many months that the court has heard cases involving state secrets privilege. In October, the Supreme Court heard a case concerning a Guantanamo Bay inmate’s alleged torture at the Cuba-based facility.
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